Sa'ar bill to go for first reading
צילום: אלכס קולומויסקי
Knesset to legalize corruption?
A bill allowing Knesset members to appoint assistants who are also party bureaucrats passed the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and will go for its first reading
JERUSALEM - A month ago State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg warned against ministers illegally employing party bureaucrats to serve as advisors. But rather than backing off, Knesset members decided to take off the gloves.
The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee passed on Tuesday for its first reading a bill that eliminates the ban on ministers appointed by party members to government posts.
If the bill becomes law, every minister will be able to employ three party members as advisors.
It would also be a slap in the face to the State Comptroller, which recently put out an annual report criticizing such practices, leading to the dismissal of a number of ministerial advisors.
This is what happened to Michael Ayalon, director-general of the Plants Production and Marketing Board, and to Poultry Council Head Mordechai Halperin when Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered their dismissal by the Agriculture Ministry.
Reactions in Knesset
Coalition Chairman Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) and Labor faction Head Eitan Cabel spearheaded the bill that will make such forced firings a thing of the past.
Sa’ar said, “The law relates to those who work in ministerial offices as ‘trusted servants,’ and who are not part of the permanent civil service.”
Knesset Member Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly) was critical of the new bill.
“They made vermin kosher,” he said.
